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Columbia River Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The Columbia River at The Dalles: salmon and steelhead runs, smallmouth bass and walleye on the Oregon-Washington border.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
106,000 cfs
Air / High
63 / 66 F
Wind
WNW 13 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 14105700, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Columbia River feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. The river is running 106,000 cfs, on the rise. Today brings clear skies, wind WNW around 13 mph, steady pressure near 1023 hPa and a high of 66. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:43 AM-11:43 AM and 10:14 PM-12:14 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

SteelheadGood

Main tributary season: fish seams, pool heads and tails and structure with drifted eggs, beads, nymphs or streamers, and plan trips around rising or falling water.

Smallmouth bassGood

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

WalleyeGood

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Chinook salmonSlow

Runs enter the rivers: drift roe or sand shrimp through travel lanes, plunk a wrapped plug, or float eggs in eddies and tidewater.

Tomorrow: Similar at 69 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Oregon requires a fishing licence from age 12, from $50.00 for residents. What a Oregon licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing steelhead here? Check the size and bag limits with ODFW before you keep anything. The season dates for Oregon, read off the agency, are on the Oregon seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Columbia River at The Dalles.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 14105700.

83,06592,100101,135106,000 cfs09/2310/0410/1410/23

Today’s flow against 148 years of October 23

At 106,000 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 14105700 (Columbia River at The Dalles) is at the 62nd percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 148 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 98,050 cfs; the highest was 180,000 cfs and the lowest 61,100 cfs.

p10 76,950median 98,050p90 135,300

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 14105700; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp63 F
High / Low66 / 48 F
WindWNW 13-18 mph
Pressure1022.7 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:32 / 18:05
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)61 F USGS
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Columbia River this week

The best day on Columbia River this week looks like Wednesday Oct 28, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Wednesday, Oct 28 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:43 AM-11:43 AM and 10:14 PM-12:14 AM
Minor period
4:09 AM-5:09 AM
Sun
07:32 to 18:05
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 15 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Columbia River: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Steelhead illustration

Steelhead

Great Lakes tributaries from fall through spring; West Coast rivers have both summer and winter runs

Steelhead are rainbow trout that migrate to the Pacific or the Great Lakes to grow, then return up rivers to spawn; unlike most Pacific salmon they can survive spawning and spawn again. Main tributary season: fish seams, pool heads and tails and structure with drifted eggs, beads, nymphs or streamers, and plan trips around rising or falling water.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Chinook salmon illustration

Chinook salmon

Seasons follow the runs: spring, summer and fall runs on the West Coast, and late summer into fall in Great Lakes rivers

The largest Pacific salmon, caught by trolling and mooching at sea and by drifting and plunking in rivers as adults return to spawn; also stocked in the Great Lakes. Runs enter the rivers: drift roe or sand shrimp through travel lanes, plunk a wrapped plug, or float eggs in eddies and tidewater.

When to come: the Columbia River calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Steelhead
Smallmouth bass
Walleye
Chinook salmon
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Columbia River today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 63 F, wind to 18 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 71 F, wind to 4 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 70 F, wind to 7 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Oregon requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Where the Columbia forms the state line (not tributaries, sloughs or land), Oregon and Washington licenses are both valid except when the other state's season is closed; anglers other than Washington residents need an Oregon license to land fish by boat in Oregon, and only one daily limit applies even with both licenses. A Columbia River Basin Endorsement is required for salmon, steelhead or sturgeon. Bass, walleye and other warmwater fish: no limit, open all year (Oregon Columbia River Zone, updated Jan. 6, 2026). Closed to angling from the I-197 bridge at The Dalles up to The Dalles Dam, except bank angling for 1,100 feet above the bridge.

Access

The Port of The Dalles boat ramp; ODFW says there is plenty of bank access at parks, boat launches and beaches along the river.

About this water

The Columbia River at The Dalles, Wasco County, Oregon, on the Oregon-Washington border.

Fishing Columbia River: the full guide

Runs and resident fish

ODFW says that in a year of good returns more than 1 million Chinook, coho and sockeye salmon and summer steelhead travel up the Columbia to spawn in its tributaries, and that the river's smallmouth bass and walleye fisheries are less known. According to ODFW, the Columbia has developed a nationwide reputation for smallmouth bass, and professional bass tournaments have been held on the upper river.

Walleye

Oregon's state record walleye, 19 lb 15.3 oz, came from the Columbia in 1990. ODFW notes that most walleye are caught from boats, that pressure concentrates near the ramps from Portland to Irrigon, and that near The Dalles fish may hold on gravel beds or flats 25 to 35 feet deep or in deep holes. In the gorge, ODFW says the best walleye fishing begins in May, slows in the warm months and picks up again in October.

Sturgeon

White sturgeon are catch-and-release unless ODFW announces a retention season. When retention is open, fork lengths must be 38 to 54 inches from Bonneville Dam to The Dalles Dam and 43 to 54 inches from The Dalles Dam to McNary Dam. Sturgeon angling is closed May 1 to August 31 in the sanctuary from the Port of The Dalles boat ramp upstream to The Dalles Dam.

Rules change in season

Salmon, steelhead and sturgeon seasons are co-managed by Oregon, Washington and the four treaty tribes, and Oregon may change them on short notice: read ODFW's Columbia River recreation report before each trip. Barbless hooks are required for salmon, steelhead and sturgeon from Buoy 10 up to the Oregon-Washington border above McNary Dam. Flow and water temperature on this page come from USGS gauge 14105700, Columbia River at The Dalles.

Common questions

Can I fish the Columbia with a Washington license?

On the mainstem where the river forms the state line, yes, unless Oregon's season is closed; tributaries, sloughs and fishing from Oregon land need an Oregon license, and non-Washington residents landing fish by boat in Oregon need one too.

How big do Columbia walleye get?

Oregon's state record, 19 lb 15.3 oz, was caught in the Columbia in 1990.

Can I keep a sturgeon?

Only during a retention season announced by ODFW, within the fork-length slot for that reach; otherwise white sturgeon are catch-and-release.

Is fishing good at Columbia River right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Deschutes River13 miKlickitat River15 miDrano Lake24 miSandy River53 miLake Merwin67 miCrooked River71 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 14105700 — Columbia River at The Dalles
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 45.6045, -121.1720 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 8, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 8, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.